Voyeurism
by Sympathetic Wishes
Summary: She'd always watched him, without him knowing. What will she do when she's finally discovered?


**So I wanted to write a fanfiction about Botan and Kurama really bad, and three good separate ideas came to me. The first is Stolen by a Fox.**

**Here's the second one.**

* * *

He was just about here.

He was just about here.

He was just about here.

Botan stood behind a large oak tree standing erect next to a natural reservoir of water.

It was late dawn so the sky was half a mix of shadows and a bright orange tinge, the only illumination across the otherwise dark glade. A long slender figure, dressed in all white with silver flowing hair, stepped smoothly into the clearing.

Botan felt her cheeks growing warm already.

He was beautiful, as he always was.

His long silver hair ran down his lean back in a smooth stream while strands of it framed his elegant face perfectly in the front. His eyes were centered in gold then garnered by elegantly long eyelashes that made him look ungodly attractive to any female that looked upon him.

Botan would know. She'd seen it first hand, every time she followed him. As a ferry girl, she had the ability to see small details of anything she wanted, flying within six leagues above ground on her oar. Botan had always stayed the near maximum distance she could away from the man in the past, when she watched him.

Just because.

There were simply far too many reasons why shouldn't go near him.

He had nearly every woman in the Makai world willing to throw themselves at his feet at just the smallest invitation.

Who was she to compare with all of them?

Botan had seen him reject every girl that threw themselves at him. Every last one. From the exotically gorgeous to the most intellectually appealing ones...none of them had succeeded in gaining his interest. Each one had been ten thousand times better looking or smarter than herself and Botan knew she would simply be wasting her time if she followed in their footsteps.

Youko Kurama would reject her.

There was no doubt of that in her mind.

But that was okay, Botan rather preferred this route anyway. She wasn't even really sure what she would be able to do with the man if by some miracle he decided to accept her. No, there was nothing she could offer or help him with. If anything, she would just be a burden.

That's why Botan had learned to stay her feelings, keeping them immobile and locked within herself as she watched him, time after time.

This was going on the six year already. The sixth year since she'd first seen him, and lost her heart instantaneously.

He was just so perfect. Almost ungodly so.

Even if she was punished for thinking so, Botan didn't care, for she was already doomed anyway. She knew this unrequited love of hers would eventually be the death of her.

But she couldn't help herself. She couldn't stay away. No matter how much she told herself not to, Botan always found herself using her powers to pinpoint Youko's exact current position and then travelling there on her oar, stealing an extra hour or so out of her duties in ferrying, just to watch him. Just to see him.

Just to be near him.

She knew he was a demon, she knew he was heartless, she knew he probably wouldn't spare a second thought in killing her. Or anyone in the universe for that matter.

She knew he didn't love anyone except himself.

But Botan couldn't help it.

The more she came, the more Botan found herself ensnared by everything that he was, his beauty, his power, his strength, his enigma…

Everything. EVERYTHING, he was called out to her and soon Botan found herself needing to visit him, otherwise she couldn't make it through the day. Even if it was just for a minute, for a second even, she had to go.

And so, once again, Botan found herself wading in the shadows of his prowess, watching him because it was the only thing she could do.

Kurama's white robes were completely covered in blood, from front to back. Even his tail was dipped in crimson, marrying what should have been an immaculate white.

Botan bit her lip as she knew exactly what he was going to do next.

Kurama undid the sash at his waist and let it crumble to the dirt ground. Next came his robes: boldly, he shucked off his outer battleware, one by one, until he was completely bare. Botan felt herself struggling to breathe; this was the only time she'd ever seen him naked in all the instances she'd came to spy on him.

She had to press her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from making a squeal.

Botan's other hand clutched the Kreel Medallion, hanging from her neck at the center of her breasts, with all her strength. The Kreel Medallion was a standard issuance for all Grim Reapers of the Reikai, distributed by King Yenma himself. It allowed the wearer to become masked and hidden for however long they wore it, along with granting a few other minor abilities to aid them in the ferrying process. It didn't make them invisible but rather, "hidden" unless directly noticed or addressed. It also didn't silence the user.

Only the upgraded version, The Kremi Medallion did all that. As a lower class Reaper, Botan was only allotted the standard version.

Still, if it wasn't for the Kreel, Botan knew Kurama would have long found her out before now.

His nakedness revealed the few battle scars he had: one on the right side of his hip, another in the center of his abdominal muscles and then finally one on his back, running down diagonally between his two shoulder blades.

They were all old scars, aged and unable to heal anymore than their current state. Botan knew he must have gotten them when he'd first started out as a thief, as a demon.

Besides those three detriments, Kurama was perfect, as he always was. He waded into the shallow pond and dipped his entire body underwater, before coming back up. The blood washed off him in one fluid motion but that wasn't what stole Botan's breath in that instant: the moon's rays shone down directly from on top of him in that second, creating an iridescent effect across the water's small waves which then reflected up onto his silver hair that now clung together in striking angles as it fell down straight in front of him. Water droplets fell down from his beautiful face to his neck, then his pectorals, then abdomen, then...

It took Botan a second to realize it but her nose was bleeding on both sides; very quickly, and soundlessly, the ferry girl pinched her nostrils shut.

But even then it was too late: Kurama had already smelled her blood.

"Who's there?" he cried furiously, turning to look right at her hiding spot. In that instant, Botan knew she had become visible for him.

Without warning, she tore from her spot, running as hard as she could through the forest. She tried calling her oar but realized a second later that it couldn't find her in this dense underbrush. She had to either find an exit or another empty clearing.

Almost as soon as she had leapt from her hiding spot, Botan had felt Kurama's spirit energy chasing after her, almost right on her heels.

"Stop! I command you!"

No. Way. In. Hell.

A sharp strong branch snagged against Botan's arm, creating a deep jagged cut but the ferry girl didn't even spare a glance at it. No, not when danger was so close.

Kurama had taken off straight from the pond, without bothering to get dressed so he was presently naked, running through the woods. He was accustomed to running barefoot but he wasn't used to chasing down women.

A low branch caught him off guard and he managed to duck at the last minute but his neck still got snared with a nasty wound. Kurama swore under his breath as he continued pursuing the girl, he would make the woman pay, whoever she was.

And yet, at the same time, part of him took notice of how beautiful her blue hair was flowing behind her, as she continued to run from him.

As the distance between them started to lengthen.

What was going on? He should have caught onto her long before now, if she was just a normal human. Which she didn't look to be anything but.

And yet, here she was, beating him in speed.

He actually started sweating.

Botan didn't dare look back, from fear of her resolve breaking should she actually come face to face with him. In the center of her chest, she twisted the center dial in the middle of the Kreel Medallion so that it lined up with the feathered sandal engraving. Immediately, her feet carried her more than five times faster and without looking, Botan was sure she heard Kurama's hurried steps sounding farther away.

"WAIT!" the man's voice cried one final time before she burst forth from the woodlands and leaped right off the edge of the cliff that met the opening.

At first Kurama thought the girl was insane, committing suicide rather than stop to meet him. He rationalized that she was most likely a spy sent to watch him and find out what was his next target to steal. Spies like her were trained to take their own lives should they fail or get discovered, from fear of compromising their own party.

Kurama thought this until that is, the very same blue haired girl came soaring right up and out of the chasm, on what looked to be a wooden oar, and took off flying into the sky.

The nine tailed fox had no idea how to process any of this.

_Who_ was this woman?


End file.
